CO TYRONE folk-rockers The Logues have been not-so-quietly plugging away on the local music scene for the past decade. Now in their 10th year, they have released their second – and aptly named – studio album, Comin’ of Age. The band have also revealed that they will be following up their album release with a North American tour.
In the music industry bands tend to form as often as they dissolve. Keeping a band together for 10 years is impressive and in the case of The Logues it seems even more remarkable since the band's guitarist and vocalist Kiel Cathers says that they didn’t intend to form a band in the first place.
“It was almost an accident really,” he explains.
“We planned to do a one off thing for Paddy’s day; it was basically like a jam session. We learned about 2 hours’ worth of songs the night before, and from then on we spent a few years playing around the local dens of iniquity.”
During the band's formative years, they played covers of songs by other popular Irish groups, but Cathers says that The Logues always had a songwriter in their midst.
“At the start we did your typical The Dubliners, The Pogues and all that kind of stuff; that's why we’ve got the name and now we’re kind of stuck with it,” he laughs.
“It was probably about five or six years ago we started trying out original stuff, but Logey [band member Logan McCool] was always a songwriter.”
Whether they’re doing covers or playing original songs, The Logues have an unmistakable folk-rock sound. Their music has drawn some interesting descriptions
and categorisations, and yet the Castlederg-based band tend take a more pragmatic approach to their music.
“A DJ once called us psycho céilí – I really liked that,” Cathers says.
“When we started off it was very much like speed folk. Now we’ve got more of an Americana tinge, and some other stuff thrown in. The way we look at it is; if it’s a good tune, then that’s good enough really. It doesn’t really matter what genre it sounds like.”
As their sound has developed The Logues have found themselves with a much busier tour schedule. They now have a number of foreign gigs under their belts and have even managed to play in Dubai during their travels – a personal favourite gig for Cathers.
“On Paddy’s day we did Dubai and there was 5,000 people there,” he recalls. “It is one of the biggest gigs we’ve done. It that was really good fun.”
The rise in the profile of The Logues has been both a rewarding experience and a tough one for the band. There are more gigs than ever; however, ‘psycho céilí’ is not yet a full-time job for many of the band's members.
“Logey and I are doing the music thing more or less full time and we teach music too but we’ve got a farmer, a travelling salesman and a guy who works in IT in the band as well,” Cathers reveals.
“We’ll hopefully see a future where we can do [music] full time. It’s pretty tough, especially as we’re getting older. Some of us are getting married, and having
kids – not me, of course: I’m a free spirit, I’m married to the music,” he jokes.
“You can’t be like the landed gentry anymore where you’re paid to be a philosopher, sitting in a state somewhere and writing songs. Unfortunately, it’s not like that, but we’re not complaining.”
The musician's attitude to touring and travelling at home and abroad extends far beyond a lack of complaint.
“Travelling is what I live for, and every country you go to is different for example,” he enthuses.
“For example, Dutch people are really attentive. Even if you’re in a pub, everyone is really attentive and listening to the song – then they go wild in between.”
“In Ireland we have people swinging from the rafters and things like that. It’s great that you get to see the world, and I wouldn’t’ have it any other way.”
It has been a memorable few years for The Logues, and Coming of Age is the culmination of a lot of hard work. Cathers believes that the album demonstrates how far they’ve come in their decade together.
“You can hear the difference immediately compared to the last album,” he says.
“We recorded and mastered the first album ourselves. With this one we went to a proper studio with people who know what they’re doing. It would be bad if you didn’t become a tight unit if you’re playing together all the time for 10 years or so. We’re a very tight unit and individually we’ve gotten better – a product of our wasted youth,” he laughs.”
They may not be as youthful as they were when they started out; nevertheless, with a tour of North America scheduled for 2017 and a number European gigs to look forward to, The Logues show no signs of stopping.
“We’re going to America next year which has been on my bucket list for a while. I’m really looking forward to that,” Cathers says.
“We’re doing Switzerland, Holland, and Liverpool in a few months’ time, so we’ll be busy. It’s all fun.”
:: The Logues play The Spirit Store, Dundalk on July 15; the Dalriada Festival, Glenarm on July 16 and Dergfest, Castlederg on July 24. For more see www.thelogues.com.
